E2 primed for tragedy, state says

The E2 tragedy was a disaster waiting to happen, prosecutors said Tuesday, alleging the four men charged in the February stampede that killed 21 routinely ignored hazards by squeezing as many patrons as possible onto the second floor of the Near South Side nightspot.

"All of these deaths could have been prevented," Assistant State's Atty. Robert Egan said at a hearing for the men, who entered pleas of not guilty. "Any of these defendants could have taken actions which would have limited the number of people at E2 that night.

"None of them did."

Moments earlier, Judge Dennis Porter unsealed grand jury indictments charging E2 owner Dwain Kyles, his alleged partner Calvin Hollins Jr., club manager Calvin Hollins III and party promoter Marco Flores with involuntary manslaughter. The men stood quietly as prosecutors explained the allegations and read the names of the 21 who died in the club. Hollins III clutched a book called "Bible Promises" behind his back as he stood next to his co-defendant father.

Cook County State's Atty. Richard Devine later accused the indicted men of maximizing profits by often jamming more than 1,000 patrons--sometimes at $20 a head--into a space that could safely handle only a few hundred.

"There simply was not an ability to get people out in the way they ran the club," Devine said. "They went way overboard trying to make money and trying to crowd as many people as they could into that location."

Kyles and Hollins Jr. bore the ultimate responsibility for the conditions at the club, prosecutors said. Hollins III was a floor manager who was present when the incident took place, and Flores promoted and advertised for maximum attendance.

Although a state statute sets a maximum sentence of 5 years for involuntary manslaughter convictions, prosecutors believe they can successfully argue for extensions to 10 years because of the number of deaths.

Kyles upset about charges

Kyles said as he left the Criminal Courts Building that he was upset about the indictments.

"I would like to let people know that my heart sincerely goes out to these victims and these families," he said. "I look forward to my day in court."

His lawyer, Michael Monico, called the E2 disaster "one of the worst tragedies ever to befall this city" but said the filing of criminal charges "doesn't help those poor people."

"This was an accident," he told Porter. "It happened in the wake of 9/11 and in the wake of the anthrax scare. There were people in there yelling, `Poison gas.' It is not the fault of Dwain Kyles."

Prosecutors said their case would be built around the testimony of experts who told the grand jury that E2 could not safely handle the crowds it had night after night.

Experts will say "specifically, that given the size of the crowd that was customary at E2 and that was in fact present [on Feb. 17], that any emergency incident which took place could cause a panic that would almost certainly cause bodily harm or death to patrons," Egan said.

The emergency that eventually emerged, prosecutors said, was a fight and the use of pepper spray to quell it. Hundreds fled toward the only exit they knew and the only one they could see from the dance floor--the narrow staircase they had used to enter. Those who died were crushed under stacked bodies as they attempted to escape.

Porter set bail for 49-year-old Kyles at $15,000; for Hollins Jr., 53, at $35,000; for Flores, 32, at $25,000; and for 29-year-old Hollins III at $20,000. Each posted 10 percent of those amounts and, after being processed at Harrison Area Police Headquarters, was free on bond until the next court date, Nov. 14.

Family members of those killed in the tragedy said the charges did not go far enough, and other critics said other parties, including the city of Chicago, should take more of the blame.

Myers wanted to know why the indictments stopped with the four men charged.

"Where's the person that sprayed whatever they sprayed in that club?" Myers asked.

Devine answered that question later in the day when he said the special grand jury that considered the evidence has finished its work. Chicago police, who heard hundreds of witnesses' accounts, turned the evidence over to prosecutors in March without recommending criminal charges against anyone.

Others who may have had a role in the tragedy, including the security guard who used the pepper spray or inspectors who might have missed the fact that the business was open despite a court order, might have used poor judgment, Devine said, but their conduct cannot be considered criminally reckless.

On Tuesday the 32nd and 33rd civil suits related to the disaster were filed. They joined a variety of lawsuits that have alleged the city failed to enforce its building code and court orders to keep the nightclub closed and that the owners and their companies failed to keep the exits clear.

City charges against 2

Representatives of the city have routinely blamed E2 management for what occurred there, and Kyles and Hollins have been citedin a pending criminal contempt complaint in which the city charges they ignored a July 2002 order to shut down the second floor of the building.

Millie Ferguson wants to see the men tried. Her daughter, Bianca, was 24 when she died on the club's steps.

"I feel they should go to jail for the simple reason they knew the club wasn't supposed to be open and they kept it open anyway," she said.

Myers said she will be in Porter's courtroom every day if the case ultimately moves to trial, trying to see justice for her son.

"I want them to look at my face and see what kind of hurt has been done to us," she said.

The charges

Each of the four defendants indicted in the E2 case was charged with 63 counts of involuntary manslaughter-three counts for each of the 21 victims.

MANSLAUGHTER COUNTS

All types fall under the involuntary manslaughter statute

- Recklessly failed to maintain reasonably safe conditions, likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another.

- Recklessly performed acts that were likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another.

- Recklessly operated or maintained a business on the premises in an unsafe manner that endangered the life or safety of patrons upon said premises.